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No. 751,932. PATENTED FEB. 9, 1904. G. A. MBIGHAN. AUTOMATIC SWITCH FORTRAMWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 29, 1903.

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Patented February 9, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT "OFFICE.

GEORGE A. MEIGHAN, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

AUTOMATIC SWITCH FOR TRAMW AYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 751,932, dated February9, 1904.

Application filed July 29, 1903- $erial No. 167,463. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. MEIQHAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at the city of Providence, in the county of Provideuce andState of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Automatic Switches for vTramways, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a switch adapted for the rails upon whichelectric trolley-cars are run; and the object of my invention is toprovide a mechanical means whereby the motorman may operate from theplatform of the car to automatically shift or throw the tongues of thetrack so that the car will be guided in the desired direction upon therails.

The invention consists in a casing adapted to be embedded between therails of a trolleycar road-bed, two tongues pivotally mounted on saidcasing, three levers pivotally mounted in said casing, each having oneof their ends projecting from the upper surface of the same, and meansmounted on the platform of the car for automatically contacting with theprojecting ends of said levers in shifting the said tongues to thedesired position upon the rails. of the novel construction andcombination of parts, as hereinafter described, and specifically setforth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents atop plan view of thecasing, showing its location with that portion of the track whose railslead in different directions. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of thecasing, taken in line W W of Fig. 1, showing the position of the leversfor shifting or moving the tongues of the rails and also showingapartial section of the platform of a trolley-car provided with means fortripping said levers. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of thecasing, taken in line X X of Fig. 2.' Fig. 4 is a similar sectional viewof the casing, showing the position its parts assume when the centerlever has been acted upon from the car-platform to move or throw thetongues for a straightaway course for the car. Fig. 5 is a top plansectional view of the casing, taken in line Y Y of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is atransverse sectional View of the casing, showing the position its partsassume when a side lever has been acted upon to move the tongue inwardlythat the car may take a curve or turnaway course. Fig. 7 is a partialtop plan view of the casing and showing the roller for tripping the sidelever to move a tongue as when the car is to pass upon a curved track;and Fig. 8 is a transverse section taken in line Z Z of Fig. 2, showingthe means mounted on the car-platform for tripping the respective leversof the casing.

Like letters indicate corresponding parts in the different figures ofthe drawings.

A represents a casing which is adapted to be embedded in the groundbetween the rails of a trolley-car track and with its upper surfaceflush with the road or street level. Trackrails t Z) extend upon eachupper edge longitudinally of the casing and have their ends meetingtogether with the ends of the rails of the road-bed. At one end of thecasing the rails Z2 b are made to curve inwardly and outwardly to guidethe car in a turnaway course, and two tongues .c 0 are pivotally mountedon the casing and situated between each of the two curved portions ofthe rails 6 5. These tongues c 0 have their pivotal centers near to thisend of the casing and in alinement with the road-bed rails which permitof a straightaway course, as shownin Fig. 1. The tongues c 0 haveintegral extensions 0' c, which project through slotted openings 0 (3formed in the upper plate of the casing A.

d is a lever pivotally mounted on a stud e of a support j, which isfixedly secured to the bottom plateof the casing A. Said lever 0?extends longitudinally and centrally of the casing and has one endprojecting vertically through a slotted opening 0 formed in the upperplate of the casing A. The opposite end of the lever 0L is bifurcated toreceive the ends of two arms h h, which are connected to the bifurcatedend of said lever by pins 2 2'; These arms it? extend upwardly from andtransverse of the lever d, and the upper extremity of each of said armsis movable in U- shaped supports 7' j, which are fixedly secured to theupper plate of the casing A. The supports jj are arranged to guide thearms 72. h,

so that their upper ends will bear against the V extensions 0 c of therail-tongues c c in the manner shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

d d are two levers pivotally mounted on studs is, secured in hubs Z Z,which are integral at each side of the casing A, as seen in Fig. 5.These two side levers d d have one of their ends projecting verticallythrough slotted openings 0 0, formed in the upper plate of the casing,and the opposite ends of the said levers d d have wedge-shaped oroutwardly-inclined surfaces 0Z d arranged to engage with the extensionsc' 0 of the railtongues c c, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

Each of the levers d and d d has an enlargement or weighted portion, asat points d (Z3 (P, to carry the upper projecting ends of said levers totheir normal position above the surface of the casing.

Referring to Fig. 2, B represents a trolleycar platform, to the bottomof which is fixedly secured a standard m. Said standard m has a stud'22, upon which is pivotally mounted a knee-lever 0, and said knee-leverhas one of its arms provided with a roller 9 and its opposite armprovided with a weight g. r is a bell-crank lever pivoted on a stud s ofa bracket 6, which is fixedly secured to the bottom of the platform B atits front portion thereof, and a rod a has one end connected with thelong arm of said bell-crank lever r and its opposite end connected tothe knee- 5 lever 0 at a point above its roller 10. '0 is a presser-footor step projecting above the surface of the platform B and having ashank portion Q), the lower extremity of which is connected to the shortarm of the bell-crank lever 1-. There are three independent presserfeetor steps mounted and movable in the platform of the car, and eachpresser-foot having a similar arrangement of parts, as above described,and each presser-foot to operatea roller 2, which is situated inalinement and arranged to come in contact with the projecting portion ofthe levers d and d d of the casing A. The weighted end portion of eachof the knee-levers 0 is to carry up each of the presser-feet 'v androllers 0 to their normal position, as seen in Fig 2, when not 5 actedupon by the motorman.

The operation of my device is as follows: Assuming that the car is totake a straightaway course upon the rails b b? of the road bed in thearrow direction indicated in Fig. i

1, before the car will have reached the switchcasing A the motorman willforce down by his foot the center step '0, and this movement will carrydown the roller 10 to the dotted position of parts shown in Fig. 2, andsaid roller 10 being in alinement with the projecting portion of thecenter lever 03 of the easing (see Fig. 8) will strike against this endof said lever and cause the same to tilt up its arms h h and bring thelatter to bear against the extensions 0' c of the tongues 0 c, and thusthe said tongues are moved outwardly until they strike against the innersides of the rails b b, when the straightaway course is given for thecar, as shown in Fig. 1. When the tongues c 0 are moved to their outwardposition for a'straightaway course, as described, the lower ends of theextensions 0 c of the said tongues are in contact upon the upper portionof the wedge-shaped or inclined sides of the levers d d to the positionof parts as shown in Fig. 4. Now in this position of the switch-tongueslast aforesaid if perchance the car following is to take a curve orturnaway course, say, upon the rails b b in the arrow directionindicated in Fig. 7 the motorman will simply press upon the righthandstep to bring the roller in contact. with the sidelever OZ, and whichmovement will throw the righthand tongue 0' inwardly to the side of theinner rail 6 to the position as shown in said figure. If it shouldhappen that the switchtongues 0 0 have been moved so that they each bearagainst the inner rails b b and a car is to take a turnaway course, themotorman will first press against the center step and throw both tonguesagainst the outer rails Z) Z), after which he will move his foot fromthe center step and press against one of the side steps to throw eithertongue for the car to pass on the curve he desires.

I show a car-switch arranged for as traightiaway course and right andleft turnaway 1 courses; but it will be readily understood by myconstruction and arrangement of parts of the switch-casing that incertain points of the track having a straightaway course and but fonecurve one tongue will suflice to switch the car in either of these twodirections, so that an arm k of the center lever, together with a sidelever d, may be dispensed with in the switch-casing at such points ofthe track.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I show the casing provided with a cover w to allow ofgetting at the interior parts or for the convenience of plac- 1 ing anelectric heater within the casing for use in the winter season to keepthe operating parts free of ice and in working order.

By my construction and arrangement of parts much time and labor aresaved,inasmuch as the motorman does not have to brlng the car to a stopand use a bar, as is common for prying the tongue when reaching aswitch.

I claim as a novel and useful invention and desire to secure by LettersPatent 1. In a tramway-switch for trolley-cars, the combination, of acasing having rails upon its upper surface arranged to meet the ends ofthe rails of the road-bed, which lead in different directions; twotongues pivotally mounted on said casing, and said tongues havingintegral extensions projecting through slotted openings formed in thesame; a lever pivotally mounted centrally of the casing, and having oneend projecting through a slotted opening formed in the same and abifurcation at its opposite end; two arms having one of their endsconnected to the bifurcation of the said lever and having their oppositeends arranged to bear against the extensions of said tongues; two leverspivotally mounted in the casing, on each side thereof and having one oftheir ends projecting through slotted openings formed in the casing andtheir opposite ends exposing inclined surfaces to engage the extensionsof said tongues; and means mounted on the car-platform for forcing downeither projecting end of the aforesaid levers to throw either of saidtongues to the position desired upon the rails, substantially as setforth.

2. In a tramway-switch for trolley-cars, the combination, of a casingadapted to be embedded between the rails of a road-bed, at a point wherethe tracks lead in astraightaway course and right and left turnawaycourses; two tongues pivotally mounted on said casing and having theirpivotal centers in a plane with the rails of a straightaway course andsaid tongues having integral extensions movable in slotted openingsformed in said casing; a lever pivotally mounted and extendinglongitudinally in the casing, and said lever having one end projectingthrough a slotted opening in the same; two arms connected to theopposite end of said lever, extending transverse of the same and adaptedto engage with the inner faces of the extensions of said tongues; twoside levers pivotally mounted and extending longitudinally in thecasing, and said arms having one of their ends projecting throughslotted openings in the same and their opposite end portions inclined tothe outer faces of the extensions of said tongues; three presser-feetmounted and movable in the platform of the car, and each of saidpresser-feet adapted to operate a roller,

and so arranged that a downward movement upon the center thepresser-foot will carry its roller in contact with the projecting end ofthe aforesaid center lever whereby its arms force the said tonguesoutwardly for a straightaway course, and a downward movement upon eitherof the other presser-feet will carry their roller in contact with eitherprojecting end of the aforesaid side levers whereby their inclinedsurfaces force inwardly either of the said tongues for a turnawaycourse, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

- GEORGE A. MEIGHAN. Witnesses:

EDWARD WV. OBRIEN, Jr, WILLIAM H. PEcK.

